Hey Jaune
by Twisting Demon
Summary: A routine cleanup mission goes south. Ruby and Jaune find themselves talking about memories, life and relationships in less than ideal circumstances, yet it is often in these times that one can truly talk. The final chapter is up. "Fast Cars" continues starring Blake Belladonna.
1. The First Memory

"Hey... Jaune?"

"Yes Ruby?"

"Do you... Do you remember the day we met?"

Ruby propped herself up, folding her skirt beneath her thighs, with her back to a cold steel wall. Wiping her brow filled with dust and grime previously untouched for almost a century, she carefully placed Crescent Rose on the newly disturbed ground by her side. She couldn't really tell what was around her, much less where Jaune even was, in a what could be best described an enveloping darkness smelling of soot and mould. All she knew was that Jaune was close by, though his voice slightly muffled, with a metallic echo clearly heard with every breath and every whisper. Wherever they were, at least they weren't far apart. In a place devoid of light, the voice of a friend was her only consolation. And for what his voice was worth, it soothed the headache she's been fighting for the last hour. At least they were alive.

"Of course I do. I mean, it's not everyday a girl explodes on arrival to her new school"

"Heh. And it's not everyday a guy you don't know heaves his lunch on your new shoes on the flight there."

"Yeah... Yeah I guess I kind of set myself up for that."

A light laughter echoed through the halls of iron and stone. Compared to Ruby, Jaune could at least make some semblance of where he found himself. On one corner was a broken light, still attached to whatever its power source was, giving a faint incandescent glow to the room. It was enough for him to see a pair of broken and rusty lockers, a cot with a layer of dust thicker than the mattress, some old worn-out helmets on the ground, and some weird umbrella shaped... plants (?) he wouldn't dare touch. The echoes in this room rang shorter than where Ruby was. Taking a chair he doubts anyone has used in decades, he sat down closest to where he could hear his friend, leaning his sword and shield on the wall.

"Once you realize that you'll be attending the most prestigious combat school on the planet and that someone likely put peanuts in your sandwich, you'll understand what I mean."

Ruby sighed.

"You know... you weren't the only with butterflies in your stomach that day. I... I was nervous too, despite appearances."

"You? Nervous? The girl with the whimsical laugh while dodging Nevermores?"

A second sigh.

"Yang probably already told you but... I wasn't exactly the 'it' girl back in Signal. Back then, and even now, I was something of an oddball tomboy."

The concept of oddball girls didn't really register with Jaune. It was precisely this oddball quirkiness of Ruby that pulled him close. He liked oddballs because he was an oddball himself. He took a deep breath of the mouldy air.

"I'm not really like Weiss, with nice manners and upbringing that people gravitate around. Not like like Blake with that mysterious and alluring background people find intriguing. Not like my sister, who just needs to lower her jacket zipper and men turn into drooling babies."

 _Yeah there were times when it looked like her zipper would go all the way dokasdjlmlaskdj shut up Jaune shut it._

"You know I'm the girl covered in weapon grease or cookie crumbs, sometimes both. The girl who likes dark red hoodies rather than dainty dresses. The girl who'd rather smell like Grimmblood than perfume. Because of that... I guess people just think of me strange... Since I'm not really a girl..."

Ruby curled forward and hugged her knees at the end of that sentence. Jaune, for his part, stood up and faced her general direction. He had a face of disbelief, not that Ruby could see it.

"And I'm the guy anyone in school could beat if they even just sneezed in my general direction. The guy who, before coming to Beacon, was never even formally trained in the art of combat, and given up on by his own warrior family."

Jaune lightly punched the wall.

"I'm not like Cardin who could probably bench press a Boartusk. Not like Ren who's quiet demeanour contains unbridled courage. Not like Headmaster Ozpin who commands respect despite an injury permanently retiring him from being a Huntsman. Because of that... I believed people thought I was just a mistake in the paper work... The wrong man in the wrong place... Who probably wasn't really a man anyway..."

Jaune looked up, staring at the ceiling, and closed his eyes and clenched his fist.

"But no one really cared, at least no one who mattered did. Not Pyrrha, or Ren, or Nora. The same goes for you. The ones who matter don't care. Not Weiss, or Blake, or especially your own sister Yang. They welcomed both of us with open arms, no matter who or what we are, were, or maybe even would be."

Jaune went back to his seat, folded his arms, and leaned back on the wall between them.

"And so you know, even if none of them were in Beacon, we... Did meet each other, you know. On our first day. In rather... hilarious circumstances."

"Yeah... You're right. Sorry for that sentimental tripe."

"You're welcome. Also 'tripe?' Not a word I thought you knew how to use Ruby"

The two of them, free of some worry, again took deep breaths and laughed.

"I'm kinda surprised Jaune. Never took you for the self-confident type of guy. Self confident guys usually don't look at their own feet and still trip over themselves."

"And I never took you for the doubting kind of girl. Doubting hunters don't usually stick their weapons inside a Beowulf's maw and pull the trigger with reckless abandon."

"Fastest way to kill one sometimes. You really need to know how to use a gun Jaune."

Jaune could hear Ruby giggle from her side. A very feminine giggle at that. If there was anything ladylike about Ruby, contrary to what she just said, it was her laugh.

"Um Ruby... What exactly brought up this confession of self doubt? Self and doubt are two words one does not usually associate with the name Ruby Rose."

"Well..."

Ruby unconsciously began to draw circles on the ground beside her. Circles that seemed to start of as doodles, but as she began to muster the courage to speak, the doodles started to look like a scythe blade.

"My first attempt to make friends in Signal was with a group of girls, much like my team right now. They were my training team. Unlike team RWBY however, this group... Didn't really take their training in Signal seriously."

Ruby had started to to draw down a scythe handle.

"We were classmates and I was the one who always tried to get them to take their training seriously. Kind of hard when they freak out on every broken nail. My day wasn't complete if half my nails weren't broken in training with my uncle. Eventually... They started to resent me, especially after I became the top student in class."

Ruby let out a sigh as she drew a cartridge and bolt mechanism on the handle.

"After class I usually spend my time tuning up Crescent Rose. One day while in armory I was tuning up Crescent Rose. I was covered in grease wearing just work shoes and overalls. One of the girls... Was hiding in the room taking pictures."

Ruby had just completed drawing on the ground. It was a sketch of her weapon. Ruby's known to be very talented in sketching, and this even extended to drawing on soil and sand.

"When I came in the next day... There were copies of that picture of me around the campus with the caption... 'grease girl'.

Ruby spoke with a quiver in her voice as she angrily kicked off the drawing she made on the ground.

"The moment I saw those girls... My other classmates just... Just laughing out loud... I ran. Took my headphones and ran. Walked around the city for a while. Ended up that night in the Dust shop that Torchwick robbed. The night I met Mr. Ozpin. The night I got accepted into Beacon."

"Ruby... That... That happened just the day before we met..."

Jaune's eyes just widened in surprise. He could barely fathom how a girl humiliated in her own school could be so... Happy the day after.

"Well it's all in the past now. To be honest I almost forgot about it the moment Ozpin said he was letting me into Beacon. It's... Kind of funny how I only recall it now, probably the last place I should be remembering it."

Ruby stood up and picked up her weapon. Opening up Crescent Rose, she checked it for nicks and scratches and if the blade was still sharp. Seeing that her beloved weapon was still as good as it was after her last maintenance, she checked the wall between them and noticed a foot-wide and foot long hole. The end on Jaune's side was covered by a metal plate. It was big enough for them to see each other and to even pass things between them. If they could get the plate out of the way.

"I guess I'm just being sentimental or something. Or maybe disoriented. Maybe I'm just worried? I can't exactly tell how much time passed since I couldn't find my scroll after I got up. What time is it Jaune?"

Booting up his scroll, which still had 90% battery on it, Jaune checked for the time.

"It's 8:30pm. 5 hours since we arrived at the mission landing zone, and probably around 2 hours since the crash."

"Hmmm... So I was out for probably an hour."

Ruby could feel a small lump on her forehead. Not exactly painful but noticeable.

"What time did you wake up?

"Probably the same time as you did. Good thing I didn't lose my scroll. Might be something here we can use."

Checking his scroll, all Jaune could see were error messages. For them to work, scrolls needed to be connected to the Beacon wireless network. Without the network signal there was no way to ascertain exactly where they are, or even contact anyone. The best he could do was activate the short range SOS beacon, which delivered a locator signal independent of the network. The downside of this was it ate up a lot of battery life... And at 90% charge the best it could do was run for 3 days, if he shut down all other functions.

"I've activated the SOS. It'll be good for a while. I'm sure by then they'll find the signal. If not... Well we should at least find a way to charge it."

Jaune put the scroll back in his pack. He then heard something knocking behind the wall.

"Jaune, can you remove the plate exactly at the spot I'm knocking on?"

Taking is scabbard, Jaune used it to pry out the metal plate between the two of them. Not something one should do with a priceless family heirloom, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Upon removing the plate, he was in for a surprise.

"Cookies? Not surprised honestly."

There was a hand holding a small plastic bag of slightly crumbled chocolate chip cookies. The cookies most likely got crushed during the explosion, but again, beggars can't be choosers.

"Sorry. No milk this time."

"You sure? Do you have enough for yourself?"

"It's the only rations I brought with me. Don't worry, we still have enough for tomorrow."

"Er... Cookies don't really count as rations Ruby. Then again you'd be the only one in the entire city of Vale who'd consider cookies to be a balanced and nutritious diet, not that I'm complaining. And I don't take my cookies with milk since I'm lactose intolerant."

"Man Jaune... I'm starting to understand why your life kinda sucks."

As Ruby withdrew her hand from the hole, the light coming from Jaune's side quickly illuminated Ruby's side. Reeling a bit from the light and letting her eyes adjust, she could see what looks like a mangled train car in the prevailing darkness. Curious as she was, she was too tired to check.

"You made these yourself?

"Yeah. Blake had to arm the fire extinguisher though. Got an earful from Weiss after that."

"They're pretty good. And... Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

Jaune, taking a look at the cookies she had made for him, decided to save the rest for another time. Somewhere inside he could feel that they might be here for a while.

"... Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Jaune another look around the room he was in. A room that, if he was right, probably hasn't been used in a century. With what he could make out of its contents, it was probably a quarters for the maintenance workers in the tunnel. It was somewhat ironic, he thought, being stuck in a room that others may have also been stuck in so many years ago.

Ruby stared off into the distance of the rail tunnel just beyond the wrecked train engine, into the engulfing darkness beyond. All she could do was hope that there weren't any Grimm down that tunnel, as she wasn't really in any condition to fight. As it was, the light through the hole from Jaune's side was barely lighting up her side of the wall, just enough for her to see maybe 8 meters in front of her. She also couldn't help but scratch that black and blue spot on the right side of her abdomen.

The two of them, two friends in a situation now beyond their control, both sat down in their respective sides, eating their cookies.


	2. A Second Time Afraid

"Hey Jaune?"

"Yeah Ruby?"

"Do you remember initiation?"

The young man, lying down on the old mattress he had spent an hour trying to clean and dust off, cringed slightly at the question. The Beacon Initiation ritual was not simply a right of passage for those chosen to train at the prestigious school; it was also a first-hand barometer for the teaching staff on how skilled each newcomer was in the arts of war, as well as a means to forge the partnerships that would last throughout their time in the school. For some it was a chance to show exactly what they were capable of. For others it was a chance to show their poor bladder control.

"I wish I didn't. Not exactly my, you know, finest hour."

The only person to know exactly how he landed was Pyrrha, as she was the one who made sure Jaune didn't end up as a bloody smear on the forest floor. He had sworn to avoid the eternal embarrassment of nearly becoming Grimm food seconds into initiation. Pyrrha on her side had also promised to keep her eternal silence on the matter. The staff of the school had, unknown to Jaune, also seen this but had opted to keep their own silence for reasons unclear.

"I sometimes wondered how things would have been if I didn't become the team leader of RWBY…"

Getting up, Ruby could feel a bit of soreness on her lower back. Lying and sleeping on rough rocky ground cannot be good for anyone's back, but unlike Jaune who was fortunate enough to have an old cot on his side, Ruby didn't have such luxuries. Deciding to try and keep some semblance of neatness, Ruby had opted to remove her dress and sleep in her underwear to avoid her clothes getting dirty and roughed up. She had hung her clothes on an upright piece of steel stuck to the ground, likely a wall from one of the destroyed train cars. As she spoke she carefully dusted off her clothes and proceeded to get dressed. Even in such a situation, personal habits still prevailed.

"Well you DID make that plan that ended up with a decapitated Nevermore."

Jaune took a peak through the hole, not realizing what was transpiring on the other side. One quick glance of skin, bellybutton and a frilly floral garter was enough to snap his spine and head back to upright position. After a soft pause and a mental promise to take what he saw to the grave, Jaune sat on his cot and rummaged through his things.

"Let's see… hopefully something new on the scroll."

Jaune booted up the scroll from sleep mode and its low bluish glow illuminated his now barely room. The light that was in the room the day before had started to weaken as its batteries started to run out. At that point there was barely enough light in the room for him to even see around, much less have enough to give Ruby. Ruby was already barely getting any light from his side through the various smaller holes and the large hole they made in the wall. Her side was now almost engulfed in darkness. The moment it runs out is a prospect that Jaune refuses to even imagine.

"… Nothing huh. Still no signal and no messages."

60% battery life. A scroll in sleep mode generally lasts for a good 3 days, fully charged, and taking into account an SOS beacon being emitted. Jaune put it back in his pack and decided to take a look at the dying light source in his room.

"So Ruby, what's this about the initiation?"

Ruby, fully dressed and unaware of what Jaune managed to see, picked up and checked on Crescent Rose, which she used as a pillow. Looking around she had started to notice that the light emanating from Jaune's side had started to weaken. She could also tell that the light source was dying, and when it does, both of them would be drowned in darkness. A future that Ruby would rather not think about.

"I just really wondered why Ozpin chose me to lead RWBY. Especially since I'm the youngest and maybe, by comparison, don't have the same amount of experience as my teammates. I honestly thought Weiss was the best pick."

Ruby kicked around a small stone she saw on the ground, partially out of boredom and partially from the frustration of knowing that their light was about to give out. While not particularly afraid of the dark, Ruby knew that it was in darkness that Grimm become particularly aggressive, and as such further increases the danger they were in. When it happens she would have to be on her toes the whole time, tired or not.

"Ruby… if there's anyone out of all of us who should feel out of place being team leader, it would be me. Especially me."

Jaune sighed as he tried to trace the wires coming from the lamp. The lamp itself was on the floor, plugged to a wall socket with its wires running on the wall. He traced the wires coming from socket towards a circuit box on the other side. Opening the circuit breaker, he could see countless switches and levers with fancy science-sounding names. The least he could tell was that the wires came together into one larger wire, heading towards and through the wall separating him and Ruby. Remembering that he knew next to nothing of electronics, Jaune closed the circuit box and went back to his cot.

"Come on Ruby. I'm the only son of a famed warrior family who could barely swing his sword on the first day in Beacon. I'm in a group composed a famous unbeaten warrior, a girl who can bring down a building with her hammer and a guy who's as dangerous with his fist as with his weapon."

Jaune took his sword out of the scabbard. Unlike the modern weapons used by majority of the students at beacon, Crocea Mors is a throwback to the days when a sword was a sword and a gun was a gun. In the countless generations since it was first forged, the sword had undergone little, if any, modifications to its original form. Nevertheless its blade is as sharp as the day it was made and still excels in the one thing it was made to do: remove a Grimm of its limbs. He takes a look at his family crest emblazoned on the hilt, reflecting on his family's hundred's of years history as masters of the sword, and sheaths it again.

"Ruby... Do you... Do you sometimes dream about your team?"

"Me? Well of course I do. Oh yeah once I dreamed we were in an ice cream parlor and Yang accidentally knocked Weiss ice cream on her desk and-"

"Heh no not those kinds of dreams. Dreams like you're with the team on a mission and..."

Jaune, sitting down again on his cot, bowed down and placed his face in his hands. He mustered all his might not to tear up.

"... And things... Aren't going so well."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Jaune got up slowly and stared blankly at the wall between them. He tries to muster up the courage to speak of something he has not told anyone. Not his team mates, the school staff or even his best friend who just sat barely a foot away.

"They die Ruby. All of them. In my dreams. Nightmares. They die."

Jaune recalls in his head all 3 times he woke up from such nightmares. For most people dreams disappear and are forgotten in hours if not moments. Jaune however could vividly remember them, those nights where he woke up in a cold sweat. The first time it happened he remembered even screaming, waking up Pyrrha in the process. He was thankful that Nora and Ren were too tired from training to be awakened. He would admit to Pyrrha that he had a nightmare, but never told her what it was about. He could not, or perhaps cannot, as he knew how it would trouble his team. A leader tormented by dreams of his team's death would be frowned upon, he supposed.

"Different times, different places, different ways. The results are the same. I'm the one left standing above a pile of corpses. A fight that was won at the expense of my team."

A worried ruby quickly got up and looked through the hole to see if he was okay. She could see Jaune now standing in the middle of the room, staring at the ceiling, not moving. Merely speaking.

"I'm afraid Ruby. Always, every moment, every minute we're out there fighting. Afraid that if I mess up, people will die. That one wrong call, one wrong decision, would spell the death of someone close to me. I... Can't bear..."

"Jaune... You aren't the only one afraid... Everyone's afraid... I'm afraid. Jaune... I think it'd be more bizarre if anyone of us wasn't afraid..."

Ruby looked at her closed fists. They were shaking. Uncontrollably. She knew perfectly how Jaune felt. She also knew the pains of loss. She punched the wall strong enough to startle Jaune from his livid state. She could feel a little blood oozing through her palm and down to the ground. Ruby lay her forehead on the cold steel wall, forcing a smile on her face.

"Ruby what are you-"

"Jaune... Do you want to know why I used to first one always rushing into a fight?"

Silence echoed between them for a few seconds. Jaune was still partly in his state of self-depreciation and partly shocked at what Ruby did to get him out of it. Yes indeed he was curious, but too ashamed to admit it to himself and to Ruby. Ruby, for her part, took the silence between them as an affirmative.

"I'm not just a girl recklessly charging in, body before mind. All those times I id it, I did for a reason."

Taking a few steps back, Ruby took out Crescent Rose, unfurled it in all it's glory, and planted the end on the ground proudly.

"I did because I told myself that, if I threw myself at them first and finished the fight quick, no one else would have to fight. And when no one else would have to fight, no one would be at risk to get killed."

Ruby sat back down, her back to the wall, straddling the shaft of Crescent Rose between her legs.

"I used to think if I didn't act first, if I didn't do things now, people would get hurt. I was willing to sacrifice my body, if not my life, to make sure everyone was safe. Even my team mates."

Ruby looked up and stared at her reflection on the blade of her weapon. By now her face was partially covered in dust and soot from the time they've been down in these tunnels. She could see a small yet visible scar on her neck, the first she received during one of those times where he charged in head first, against an Ursa, much to her teams vocal complaints. She would later receive a stern dressing down from Weiss due to her recklessness.

"Every time I did it Yang would scream at me, Blake would make a loud sigh, and Weiss would punch me over the head. I could see it on their faces Jaune. They were also afraid. Everyone was afraid."

Jaune, on hearing this, quickly remembered the various times his own team mates would berate him for being reckless. Nora machine-gunning her sermon, Ren quietly patching up his wounds, and at least one incidence of Pyrrha actually getting teary eyed at his injuries.

"We're all afraid Jaune... And honestly I think that's why were all still alive. Because we're each so afraid for each other's lives that we all go out of our way to keep each and everyone safe. In the end, we're not just alive because we look after someone else, we're alive because they also look out for us."

Ruby got up, and collapsed Crescent Rose back into its harness. She looked through the hole between them and saw that, at the same time, Jaune was looking though it was well. It was the first time they actually saw each other since this ordeal began. She smiled at him and saw Jaune's face perk up a little.

"So don't let your fear for others take control. As long as we're all together and watching each other's backs, we'll be safe no matter what. Trust in yourself, your capacity to lead, and most of all trust in your team."

The two of them almost simultaneously stood up and had a good hearty laugh.

"Yeah you're right. The same trust in them that we know they're looking for us as we speak. Thanks Ruby."

"Is your scroll still working."

"60%. Should be good until tomorrow. We should really find a way to charge this at least, you know, just in case."

"Let's try tomorrow. Where I am the train cars are a bit mangled but I can probably try and salvage something to use for electricity."

"My side looks like old workers quarters for the tunnel maintenance people. Hopefully some food here is still edible, even if it's older than my grandfather."

The mention of the word food got Ruby's stomach grumbling. She had inadvertently ate the rest of her food earlier that day in a fit of hunger. Looking at her pack she realized she was out.

"Umm Jaune?"

"I know. You can have those cookies back."

"H-how did you-"

"I can hear it from here."

A sudden rush of blood filled Ruby's face, which she slapped with her palms back to its original pink colored state. She reached in the hole and got back about half cookies she gave Jaune the day before.

"Sorry Jaune..."

"It's okay. I'm sure we'll find something tomorrow.."

"... Thanks Jaune."

Ruby sat down on her side, eating the remainder of her cookies. Jaune took a look at that old pale he used gather the water that was dripping in the corner of the room. The dripping itself stopped as the pale was itself already full. As it stands, he couldn't find any other source of water.

"Just enough for 2 days for the both of us huh..."


	3. Third Day's Journey Into Light

"Hey Jaune?"

"Something wrong Ruby?"

"Don't you feel the air feeling a bit… you know… dirty?"

Ruby let out a faint cough, but even that slight motion caused a bit of pain to the right side of her abdomen. While the air itself had this old sort of smell to it, the air itself was still very breathable when they first arrived. Now it had a very dusty and dirty feeling to it, with every breath taken causing an irritating itch in her throat. The air itself was still okay, but it will cease to be breathable if too many dirt particles becoming suspended.

"Yeah I can feel it too. I'm guessing there's an air scrubber in this area that's losing power…"

Jaune could tell that was the case as the low sounding hum coming from outside the room began to weaken. The lamp in his room had started to flicker weakly as well, a sign that it too was losing power. While not an expert in anything mechanical, he too could tell that the power in their area was about to run out. When that happens, the air scrubber will cease working and the lights will go off. Things would just get worse faster from there.

"The lamp in my room's also starting to go out. Ruby… I think it's time we-"

"Yeah I know. Here."

Ruby took a couple of tubes from her pack and handed them to Jaune through the hole.

"Flares? I thought we agreed to use them only when we had to?"

"Well now we have to. The lights are gonna go out soon anyway. Maybe we can find a source of electricity or something to at least power the lights and the scrubber."

Jaune took the flares, 6 in total, and put them in his pack. These were flares made by a mixture of phosphorous and fire dust, which maximizes its illuminating power and burn life. Each flare lasts for a good ten minutes, so he had a total of fifty minutes maximum to do what he needed to do. Ruby herself had 6 flares as well.

"You doing okay Ruby? We have a enough for just under an hour to go deeper in the places we're in, but I suggest we take no more than 40 minutes searching, just in case. Can you tell where you are?"

Ruby fired up a flare, as the weakening light had made her surroundings barely visible. As she had surmised 2 days ago, she was in the train tunnels with the derailed remains of the train wreckage visible a couple of meters in front of her, the twisted mangle of steel tracks and steel carriages strewn about. She could now see all sorts of haphazard wiring hung on the cracking tunnel roof snaking around the underground urban decay. As the mission briefing stated, the train was carrying all sorts of weaponry and dust meant for whatever plans the White Fang had in store.

"Looks like we at least stopped the train dead in its tracks, so to speak. Maybe there's something here was can find, like a generator or fuel or something."

Jaune, lighting up a flare, opened the door to the right of the locker room he had started in. Inside were a few desks, chairs, some plastic plants so old they too were dead, and a big pile of rubble that looked like it blocked some big steel doors. The steel doors were on the same side as the wall that separated them, as this was the very door that he had entered from before it was blocked by the debris.

"Looks like I was right, this was most likely some sort of office and quarters for the tunnel maintenance crew. Same as the locker room, no one's been here in years."

Jaune went back to the locker rooms and peered into the door directly opposite the dividing wall. Inside were maybe a dozen or so beds, also covered in a foot of dust, with a door on the wall on the right side of the room.

"Okay Ruby looks there are a couple more rooms in the complex. There's a worker's quarters in the room beyond mine so there might be a few things I can find. I can hear the hum of what's probably the air scrubber coming from beyond the opposite door. I'll see if I can get it working or something."

Jaune went back to his pack, slung it on his back, and prepared to light up a flare. With only 6 flares he had to use them sparingly, or risk getting lost in perpetual darkness.

"Like I said Ruby, we have 5 flares each, so let's not use more than 40 minutes searching. Let's meet back where we started then. You ready?"

Jaune took a deep breath of the dusty and dank air as he prepared to go into the quarters, steeling his nerves to venture into a place that has seen no light or living beings in decades.

"I'll be fine… and Jaune?"

"Yeah?"

"… be careful… and good luck in there."

Ruby began taking her steps toward the twisted carnage of rail and cars just beyond her. The ground itself was littered with debris, and god only knows they were lucky that the entire tunnel didn't cave in on them. Gears, axles and train wheels were scattered everywhere. Taking careful steps to avoid tripping over the clutter, Ruby approached the first rail car. The cars themselves were flipped on their sides, with the sliding doors now exposed on the top. Ruby carefully climbed up the first car and inspected the door. The door lock mechanism was twisted beyond recognition. If she tried to blow the door open she could just as easily blow what was inside and bring the entire tunnel down on her.

Ruby sighed and decided to leave it alone. It was too big of a risk. She clambered on to the next car. The door on this car was more agreeable than the first, and with a good swipe of Crescent Rose the lock was easily broken. Sliding it open she had jumped inside. Inside was a whole cluttered mess of robots and robot parts, looking similar to the Atlas models she had seen paraded when she met with Penny in Vale the last time. Ruby then remembered how they had fought the Paladin piloted by Torchwick just recently. Her discovery only further cemented the theory that someone had been illegally supplying the White Fang with top of the line Atlas gear. Alas these were unpowered models with no generators or dust to speak of, and being advanced tech, even Ruby couldn't salvage anything of use.

Getting back out, she saw the third car gently buffered itself between some roof high debris and the right tunnel wall. Climbing on car on the other side of the rubble, she immediately saw from a distance what looked like the dark fur seen on Beowolves. She instinctively drew her weapon and crouched down, dropped her flare and readied herself for a fight. Seconds felt like minutes until she realized that the Grimm weren't moving, seemingly lifeless on the ground, and hadn't even noticed the light coming from her flare. Without dropping her guard she picked up her flare, climbed down the car and cautiously approached the Grimm. With 5 feet between her and the closest Grimm she noticed that the Grimm were indeed dead, and slowly decaying. These were probably part of the Grimm that were also attacking the train days ago, and being in down in the darkness the usual decaying process had slowed down.

Sensing no other living threats around, She climbed up the fourth rail car. The door had been torn open in the crash and lay warped beyond recognition beside the train. Getting inside, she saw parts for timers, wirings, pipes and switches. Given the group's modus, these were likely to be used for making explosives, and where there were explosive there were likely to be fire dust. Realizing this, Ruby quickly rummaged through the piles of boxes and parts searching for any fire dust. As luck would have it, an overturned box in the back of the car had some bottles of fire dust, not a lot but still a good amount, miraculously surviving the crash.

"Now to find a working generator…"

Jaune's flare lighted up the room for the first time in ages. It was a bedroom of sorts, with 6 visible double decker bunk beds arranged on his left. The beds themselves were a mess with linen sheets scattered everywhere. Footlockers beside the beds were open and their contents looking haphazardly ransacked. Whoever was here most likely left in a hurry. The footlockers themselves contained mostly personal effects like pictures and other trinkets. Deciding to respect the belongings of the long dead, Jaune left them alone. Seeing nothing of real use in the room, he proceeded to the door opposite the beds.

Inside this door was what looked like a dining area, with tables and chairs arranged in the center and a serving counter in the back. The tables still had utensils on them and what looked like ancient blackened remains of what was once probably someone's breakfast. Behind the serving counter was a shelf and old refrigerator which, upon opening, actually still had some unopened canned goods. While it was highly unlikely that any of those were still remotely close to being edible, Jaune still decided to go through them on the rather small hopes that any of them could still be eaten. After a few minutes of searching it was plainly clear to him that none of them were edible, as they had expired long before his parents were even born. He sighed and continued through the door beside the counter.

The moment he entered the door there was permeating odor of a particularly ancient rotting smell. He stepped into the bathroom quite surprised that such an odor still existed decades after the fact. It wasn't exactly the smell of human feces you'd expect in a bathroom, but more of rotting flesh. The stalls themselves were empty and the doors had decayed over the years. The toilets were full of a rank and rancid fluid no person in their right mind would drink even while dying of thirst. The source of the odor, he would find, lay in the last stall in the back.

"Looks kind of recent. Probably some poor guy who got lost down here."

The Jaune of old would probably shriek and wet himself upon seeing a dead body, but with all the fights he'd been in such things didn't really shock him anymore. The body itself looked new, and as he had said to himself probably not part of the original crew. The skin was gone but flesh looked dry and only parts of the skeleton had been exposed. The dry atmosphere and darkness of the room and slowed down the decomposition process on the body. Again, deciding not to impose himself on the dead, Jaune said a quiet prayer and exited the room.

Ruby's small frame meant she couldn't bring out the box as a whole so she took vials of dust herself a bunch at a time. She brought out the box last and placed them in the box down on the ground. Now she had to find a generator to make use of all the dust she found. Setting the box aside on the ground, she headed toward the engine car hoping to find something to use. Based on the design and age of the cars and the engine car, Ruby surmised that it was likely powered by one of the first model dust combustion units, which would be perfect for the fire dust she had found. Clambering inside the conductor's block, she found the White Fang train operator slumped on controls, his head rotated 180 degrees and a piece of metal sticking out of his right eye. She flinched at the sight but ignored it anyway. She gave a short prayer for the poor Faunus, who was a person whose body one should still respect.

Going through the remains of the engine block, the controls for the main engine were all but completely destroyed. Wires, papers and repair tools were strewn everywhere. There was no way she could use it. Accepting that the train engine was useless at this point, she climbed out of the engine car and looked around for anything else she could use. On the wall just beyond the engine car she saw what looked like a small cage with wires and pipes sticking out. Inspecting the contraption she quickly realized that it was a Faraday cage, a device used to protect the contents from electromagnetic interference. The same type of device used to protect engines from shorting out from external magnetic waves. Ruby's excitement peaked upon dusting off the plate that read "Emergency Generator Module: Crew's Quarters"

Realizing that she had struck gold, Ruby checked behind the machine and found that it had a small dust combustion engine that was still usable. The generator appeared connected to the central wiring going back towards the wall back where Jaune was. Ruby quickly darted back to the fire dust she had collected and rushed a handful of vials back to the generator. She carefully loaded the dust container, and upon filling it, started spinning the kick start crank. With every spin she gave all her might, with every spin her sweat dripped down, with every spin she prayed that the old thing still worked. Her prayers were answered on the fifth spin and the old machine groaned back to life. The groan was followed by a healthy roar as the machine went into full force. The lights above the machine started to glow, signaling that the generator was ready to deliver.

Unable to continue her excitement any more, she rushed back towards the hole in the wall to give Jaune the good news.

"Hey Jaune!"

Jaune had finally found himself in the scrubber room just beyond the dining hall. It was a large machine that looked like it was barely chugging along with what little electricity it was still being supplied with. Jaune remembered in class how the fallen city power grid was still connected to the Vale grid, in hopes that anyone choosing to live in these outlying areas could still benefit from electricity. It was likely that the explosion had seriously damaged the connection. This connection, it looked like, was about to give way. The machine itself appeared as an intake and exhaust system, sucking in dirty air from the tunnels and ejecting it up the exhaust pipes on the surface, and then sucking in fresh air from the surface down into the tunnels. It was a relatively simple device that managed to keep breathable air down in this section of the tunnel system.

Jaune however knew that he didn't have the mechanical skills that Ruby had. All he could deduce from the machine was that it had a circuit breaker on the wall with the wiring heading out of the room. He slowly traced the wiring to where he hoped to find any sort of power supply for the air scrubber. Tracing the wires led him back to the power box in the locker room he had seen the first day they were. Opening the case he was again bewildered by all the foreign sounding names labeled on the switches. Knowing that this was the only way to keep the machine going for them to breathe, he dusted off all the switch labels to try and make sense of which one was which. While he could tell which were the on and off positions, all he could really see were the light switches themselves.

After a few minutes of searching he finally found a larger switch in the back that was labeled for the emergency generator. Closing his eyes, he prayed a bit as he switched the main circuit box to the emergency generator. One could only imagine his elation when the humming of the air scrubber started to get louder, almost as loud as it was when he first heard it. He could barely contain his joy as his lungs began to fill with cleaner and fresher air. He rushed back to the wall to call her.

"Hey Ruby!"

They never showed it in their faces. One would have expected a look of relief, of joy and maybe even of pure elation. It had been 3 days since the beginning of their ordeal, 3 days where they could barely see their own faces, much less each other's. The faint light from the lamp on Jaune's side was barely enough to illuminate his room and a few feet of the tunnel on Ruby's. That faint glow paled in comparison to the imposing brightness of an underground world bathed in light and almost coming back to life. It was a wonder that the old LED lights of the underground still even worked, but they did, pushing back the encroaching darkness. In Ruby's heart she knew though that this would only last for as long as they had enough fire dust. Still she would not let this possibility dampen her mood.

It was almost fated that the both of them would gaze through the hole to call on each other almost simultaneously. Both had already called out when they realized they had arrived at the same time. Even then, both silently stared at each other for a few moments before coming to their senses.

A bloodied gauze dressing on the right forehead. Ruby could see it clearly on Jaune as it was in real need of changing. Sweat dripped from his face, tracing a line down through the dust and soot on his face that wasn't covered in cuts and scratches. She had never seen Jaune look this bad before.

Her left eyelid swelled up like a small ball. Ruby was the type who always tried to protect her face, so it was a surprise for Jaune to see Ruby barely able to open her left eye, much less see clearly with it. Sweat too rolled down her the parts of her face that wasn't covered in cuts and scratches. He had never seen Ruby look this bad before.

"... Jaune?"

"Yeah?"

"... You look like crap..."

"Heh. Look who's talking."


	4. Truth Is A Four Way Street

"Hey Jaune?"

"Yeah?"

"How's your training with Pyrrha going?"

Deftly handling a rag and some metal polisher she had found in the train wreck, Ruby cleaned Crescent Rose with care, much like a mother giving her baby a bath. For all her impulsiveness in combat, Ruby was extremely meticulous with her weapon, always taking time to carefully wipe off the grease, dirt and grime that got themselves in every nook and cranny. She made sure to clean her weapon at least once a week, and did general maintenance on parts at least once a month. This habit of hers wasn't going to stop even if they were stuck down underground. If anything, it helped with the monotony of waiting for rescue.

"Hmmm well I'm starting to survive fighting her for almost five minutes now when she's half serious. When we started she'd usually floor me 5 seconds into the match."

Jaune chuckled to himself as he unfurled his shield. Countless scratches and dents could be seen on its solid steel surface, most of them actually coming from matches with Pyrrha. Like Ruby he also took very real care of his weapons, though much of it comes from wanting to take care of family heirlooms more than anything. He had to, of course, as the shield was pretty much the only thing keeping him from being beheaded by Beowulf and from being given a concussion by his partner.

"What's with the sudden interest in my training?"

"I just… um… thought you looked kinda cool during that fight with the Grimm that crashed with the train last week."

"Cool?"

"Yes. Cool. As in 'Jaune was pretty cool taking those blows from that huge Ursa like they were nothing."

"The words 'cool' and 'Jaune' don't really go in the same sentence."

Ruby quietly sighed to herself on Jaune's words. For all of the bright-eyed optimism Jaune always tried to project even in the face of serious danger, he had often tempered it with a kind of self-depreciating humor that Ruby had honestly found to be annoying at times. Jaune saw no problem in humiliating himself if it made things better for everyone around him, something Ruby didn't really like. She had hated the way people were willing to lower themselves for the sake of others, more so when it involved people she was close to. Even more so when it was with Jaune, someone she considered her first real close guy friend, who did so regularly and with such willful gusto.

"Jaune… do you enjoy always putting yourself down like that? Didn't we talk about it the other day already? How you've grown to be much more capable that you give yourself credit for? Me, my team, and especially your own team wouldn't trust you with their lives if they didn't think you were capable."

Jaune closed his eyes at Ruby's words. It stung. A lot. Daggers into the heart. It stung because he knew he wasn't being completely honest with his team and with his friends. That they were placing their trust and even their lives on someone who had been lying to them the moment he came aboard the airship to Beacon. He was still lying, even now, to the first friend he had made in Beacon. The friend he was stuck with in a life or death situation. At some point he knew he would have to talk about it again. Only Pyrrha knew. She accepted it wholeheartedly. Would Ruby do the same?

"Ruby… I'm not capable. I'm not because I wasn't even capable of getting into Beacon in the first place."

"Huh? That makes no sense. You're in Beacon aren't you?"

This was it. It was now or never. He knew he owed Ruby the truth. She deserved to know. He deserved whatever Ruby decided to do from that point on.

"I faked my transcripts."

"You… what? You did what?"

"Faked it. Doctored it. Bamboozled my way through. Whatever expression fits the crime. I didn't deserve to be here, but I lied my way in."

People knew that Ruby cared for Crescent Rose into the territory of obsession. It would take something absolutely shocking and incredible to make her drop her beloved weapon. This was one of those times. Crescent Rose fell to the ground with a loud thud that echoed in the tunnel.

"So you didn't really…"

"Ruby, there's no way in hell a guy like me would even be considered for Beacon."

Jaune, suddenly feeling as if carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, stood up, removed his weapons, and began trudging towards the door to the dining area.

"You guys really shouldn't trust your lives to someone who's been lying from the start."

He closed the door behind him even before Ruby could speak. He wanted to be alone. More alone than he already was at least. He sat himself on a dining chair, plugged his scroll into the outlet now being powered by the emergency generator, and just stared at that dark chunk of matter that was someone's meal he saw the day before. All he could do was stare at it, stewing in the negativity that had now clouded his mind. He had to compensate. Overcompensate even. If he didn't exert more effort than everyone else, if he wasn't willing to go the extra mile and sacrifice his body and dignity, he thought people would realize that he had nothing to offer beyond that. That it would finally dawn on his peers that he was simply incompetent, a clerical error by the admissions committee.

Hours felt like minutes when he finally realized what he was doing. Checking his scroll he realized that he was staring at that ancient pile of former food for almost 2 hours. Getting up and composing himself, he trudged back to the first room and sat on the cot. There on the cot, he could feel Ruby's aura through the wall. She hadn't moved from there for 2 whole hours.

"You okay now Jaune?"

"Yeah. Probably."

"So… why'd you do it?"

"Because… you know how I'm the only son with 7 sisters in my family right?"

"I heard from Pyrrha. So you're like the guy who's supposed to carry on the family name right?"

Jaune sighed behind a fake smile.

"I should have been, if I wasn't such a screw up even as a kid. I grew up in surrounded by sisters, all of whom were trained as warriors but were also brought up in the typical female fashion. It was… emasculating to say the least."

He stood up and stared at the dank and cracking ceiling. He closed his eyes to reminisce of memories he would rather keep in the back of his mind.

"My family was excited when I was finally born, a male heir to finally carry on the family's lineage of honor and strength. Imagine everyone's shock when the 'heir' couldn't even carry a sword properly until his teens while his sisters were already beating down fighters twice their size and twice their age."

He gripped the pommel of his blade.

"I was slow. I tried my best but I couldn't even become as good as my sisters. They started studying in combat schools around the country while I was still being home schooled. As I told Pyrrha before… I was never formally trained. No school would let me in. The only school that I could get into was a school for squires."

He gritted his teeth.

"Squires Ruby! The only son of a famed family of knights, training to be a knight's attendant! Even though my family never made a big deal out of it, it was still disgraceful. That's why I faked my transcripts. No way would a goofball with no real training get into a prestigious school like Beacon. Even then I thought to myself if I got in and learned how to be a real knight, I could make my family proud. Make my friends proud."

Jaune pulled out his blade and once again stared at his reflection on the cold hard steel.

"Make myself proud."

He stabbed his blade into the ground and kneeled; much like a how a knight would kneel in front of his superiors. He stood before his blade, feeling too much shame to sheath it.

"And now… can't really make anybody proud stuck here."

He laughed inside himself as he finally took back his blade and sheathed it.

"Jaune… can I be frank? Probably brutally?"

"Um… okay?"

"Jaune, honestly, I don't give a damn."

Her choice of words knocked Jaune out of his self-pitying stupor.

"Ruby! Language! You're only fifteen! Also who why what?"

"Don't get me wrong, you still faked your grades. My point is… I don't care how badly you, and pardon my words, sucked in the past. You've more than proven that you belong here like anyone else. I've told you that before."

"Like how, exactly."

Ruby immediately stood up and approached one of the fallen pillars near the broken train cars. She unfurled Crescent Rose and, with one fell slice, cut the concrete right in half. She again felt some slight pain on the right abdomen that she ignored.

"I've killed my fair share of Ursa, but I've never cut been able to cut one in half before, no matter how sharp Crescent Rose is. You cut an Ursa's head clean off in one slice. One. Slice. That's plain strength."

Ruby loaded a bullet into her weapons chamber and fired it at an angle on the tunnel wall. The bullet ricocheted around until it went back straight at her, which she promptly deflected with her weapon.

"I've always had to rely on my semblance and my aura to defend myself from attacks. You shrug off blows from giant Ursa like they were Nora's hugs. Without proper aura control. That's resilience."

Ruby began wiping the concrete dust from Crescent Rose's blade.

"You figured out to cut off that Death Stalker's tale and drop it on its head, taking it out in one move while we were still trying to figure out how to even bring that Nevermore down. That's intelligence."

Jaune didn't really know how to react to Ruby's praise. While she did praise him a few times before, and even just the other day, he's never received this much from anyone. Not even his family. It was all new to him.

"And… during the final moments on that fight on the train… the last thing I remember was you jumping between me and the blast, raising your shield to protect us both. If it wasn't for you… well… I'd probably be dead."

Ruby collapsed her weapon, sat back down by the wall, and curled herself into a little ball. She could scarcely believe what she was about to say.

"Jaune… you might not, or ever, consider yourself a knight. But… in that instant, that moment in time… you were mine. So please. Be proud of yourself."

Ruby curled up into a ball even more, and rolled her hoodie over her head. Jaune, for his part, felt his eyes grow wide. He really didn't know what to say or how to react. Eloquent and honest praise was something of an alien concept to him. Hearing these words, from a close friend no less, set off something inside him he had never felt before. For someone with a relative lack of self-esteem, these things were rare gifts. Gifts he would treasure immensely. If only he knew how to respond.

"I… I really don't know what to say. I'm… not used to this, honestly. I guess all I can say is… thanks. Thanks Ruby. From the bottom of my heart. No matter how cheesy you sounded."

Ruby, on hearing the word "cheesy", sprang to her feet and removed her hoodie with a sour looking pout on her face.

"Cheesy God Jaune you are such a dork! Then again… so am I."

Simultaneous laughter echoed through the halls of the forgotten underground world. Not that there was anyone around to hear it. It was probably the loudest and most honest laugh they've had since they've been down there. Took them both nearly a minute to finally settle down.

"Sometimes I just don't know what to do without your hilariously out of place comments Jaune"

"And I wouldn't know what to do without your infectious optimism Ruby."

Ruby reached for her canteen. Laughing out loud that much made her quite thirsty. Taking a few sips, she felt just how light her canteen had become. It likely only had a few sips more left. Probably good for one more day. She decided to forego that last sip and put it back into her pack. Jaune himself reached into his pack and found the empty bag of cookies, remembering that he ate the last remaining crumbs earlier that day.

"At least we still have some fresh air to breath. For a while at least. The air scrubber in the other room looks like it should run fine as long as we keep it juiced."

"As long as we keep electricity use at a minimum. Just lights and the scrubber. Even then the fire dust should only last for… 2 more days at the most. After that…"

"We'll be found by then. Don't worry."

"That's kind of my line you know!"

"Like I said Ruby, your optimism's pretty infectious."


	5. Five Days To Ask

"Hey Ruby?"

"Yes Jaune?"

Jaune fiddled with his fingers a little. He could feel the dust and grime caking on his fingers and palms. With only enough water for to last for today, he and Ruby didn't have enough to use for keeping themselves clean, even just for washing their hands. Hygiene wasn't something they could afford to worry about in their situation. They really didn't need to keep their hands clean since they haven't had anything to eat they had to hold with their hands for two days already. Even in this situation, both of them dreamed about getting long showers when their experience finally ends.

"I've always wondered… why did you want to become a Huntress?"

"Me? Well of course I've always wanted to fight Grimm and help people, just like everyone else in Beacon."

Jaune couldn't help but laugh at Ruby's rather standard reply. Ruby put out a pout, which Jaune of course couldn't see.

"Not exactly like that Ruby. Everyone wants to be able to fight Grimm. What I mean is… is there a more personal reason as to why?"

Ruby gave out a puzzled look before she realized what Jaune really meant.

"I guess there are a bunch of reasons. I kinda grew up on those stories of heroes fighting Grimm. That's probably part of what started it."

"Would you mind telling me? About the antics of a young Ruby Rose?"

"Antics huh? You're one to talk Mr. Arc. It's a bit of a long story. You really want to know?"

Jaune pulled up his cot and lay down with his arms behind his head, trying to relax. He had long since given the dusty sheet and the old pillow to Ruby through the hole, to at least give her something more comfortable to sleep on. Ruby as well lay down on said sheet. Jaune had already turned down the lights in order to save electricity.

"You already know how I grew up with just Yang and my father right? Ever since my mom died? When I was young Yang used to tell me a lot of stories about the Grimm of the past, and how many heroes through ages fought to their last breath to keep humanity from going extinct."

Ruby closed her eyes, and her thoughts wondered to those of her sister.

"Our father was a huntsman, so most of the time he were out on missions. During those times it was usually uncle Qrow who took care of us, but when uncle Qrow was working at Signal, is was just Yang and me. Our… mothers had a lot of books, so Yang used to read those stories to me to pass the time."

"Yang huh. Never thought Yang was the bookish type."

"Well just because she doesn't really read now doesn't mean she's never touched a book before. She's actually a very well read person, maybe not as much as Blake, though she never shows it really."

Ruby had begun to reminisce about her days in their house, when Yang used to read her those books by the fireplace. She remembered being a rather excitable and strapping young girl, always eager to hear about the next adventure from her sister. She remembered all those stories of heroic men and women, some being trained since childhood and some having been forced by some tragedy, taking up arms and bringing the fight to the Grimm. Many of those lived successfully to tell their tales, while others made the ultimate sacrifice for their friends, their families, and their species. She was always wide-eyed whenever Yang came to the parts of epic battles and intense duels between heroes and Grimm.

"Yang had always wanted to be a Huntress so she shared a lot of those stories with me. I guess I got infected with that bug at a young age."

Jaune had reflected on the how Yang and Ruby were really close, and this story helped cement that fact. He too began to remember the stories his father told them of the heroics his family line were involved in through ages past, starting from an unknown regular army soldier to a famed family of warriors.

"It does sort of justify how Yang tends to be really protective of you, as Yang almost sounds like a mother figure or some-"

Jaune instantly froze on realizing what he had said, remembering how Ruby's mother had died when she was really young. It was a bit of a taboo topic according to Yang, who had threatened anyone who dared to ask with genitals excised through violent methods.

"Oh man Ruby I'm sorr-"

"No… no it's okay. It's fine. You kinda do have a point. About Yang being a mother of sorts."

Ruby remembered the times when Yang did act like a mother. The times where she would beat the stuffing out of the local kids who would make fun of her. The times when she would dress her injuries from playing with Qrow's scythe. The times especially when she would read her those stories. The things a mother would

"You know Jaune, for all the times Yang can get annoying for her overprotective attitude, sometimes getting angry at the drop of a hat… I owe her a lot."

Ruby smiled and looked up at the countless yellow lights dotting the tunnel ceiling, the colors of which were very similar to the color of her sister's hair.

"She's my sister… and in some ways… also a mother…"

"… You should really tell her how you feel."

"Yeah… I know…"

A moment of silence came between them, broken by another question from Jaune.

"If you don't mind me asking… could I ask about your mom? I mean you don't have to if-"

"She was a huntress, like my dad, uncle Qrow and Yang's mom."

While Jaune himself was surprised at the audacity in which he thought to ask the question, he was taken more aback the fact that Ruby openly began to talk about her mother. Yang had always said it was a touchy subject for Ruby, and had threatened anyone who would dare bring it up with grievous bodily harm. When he asked Yang about it before, she said that in the past every time anyone would ask about it Ruby would just shy away and desperately try to avoid the question. It was therefore surprising for him that Ruby had decided to talk about her without a second thought.

"She died when I was really young. All I know was that she was in a team with them, and used a scythe just like uncle Qrow. My… my dad never really liked to talk about her. It was probably just too painful a memory. All he ever told me was that she never came back after a solo mission. They… they looked for her for days. All they found was her broken weapon and her bloodied cloak. They never found her body. They just… assumed she was dead."

Ruby sat up and gripped her cloak tightly.

"I don't have any clear memories of her so… her cloak and her weapon were the only things I had to remember her by. I ended up repairing her cloak when I grew older, and to this day I wear it every time we go on missions."

"Her cloak… wait… you mean right now you're-"

"I've always worn it. It used to be hers, so it helps me keep her close. In fact…"

Ruby took Crescent Rose from its casing. She carefully unhinged the slide and the bolt on its side to reveal the barrel. On the barrel the words "Summer Rose" were engraved.

"I made my baby with parts of my mom's weapon. The parts I never ever replace no matter what. Okay I know I know you should always keep your weapon in top shape… but for me… it's a reminder that with every bullet fired from the very same barrel my mom used to down countless Grimm before me, I too continue to be just like her. Felling Grimm, one shot a time, to help others live without fear."

Jaune could only gape in awe of the story she had just told. Never in his life did he think there was such a tale behind Ruby, her past, and her desire to be a Huntress. Even more, he was amazed and even somewhat touched that she would gladly open her heart and her memories to him, the resident school screwball.

"So yeah, my mother was also a major part of the reason I became a huntress. I wanted to be like her, fighting with all her heart and body for those around her, to help people live in peace and without fear of the Grimm. She… gave the ultimate sacrifice to achieve that, just like the heroes of the stories Yang read to me, so it makes her a hero just as much as any of them."

Ruby proudly raised Crescent Rose to the air in spite of the gradually increasing pain on her right side.

"The very same reason you fight, Jaune. To make your family proud. To help others live their lives without fear, without worrying if they would survive the night. Some people would call us idealists, but that's what we truly believe. Isn't that right Jaune?"

On that instant, that very instant, Jaune began to feel the strength of his heartbeat. He felt palpitations. Strong ones. Not the same kind he feels whenever Yang goes on a rampage because someone touched her hair, but one where he could as if someone had touched him in the very deepest recesses of his emotions for the first time. For all the praise others, and even Ruby, had given him, he felt this one the strongest. Like it was the first one that really, truly, mattered. His family, his friends, his teachers, all of them made compliments on how he had vastly improved over his time in Beacon. Yet… this was the first real compliment towards him, as a person, and why he really wanted to be the best he could be. Not just for his family, but for everyone.

"Wow… Ruby… I don't know what to say… really. I mean… Yang always said you'd never talk about it but… but you did, and so openly at that."

"Well I did figure that I owed you for you spilling the beans yesterday. But… more than that… I just… feel like I can be open to you. About anything. No matter what it was about… I honestly believed down deep inside you'd understand."

It felt… genuine. Real. Authentic. As if Ruby was the first one to try and understand what it meant to be him, how he struggled with his feelings, his past and his worries for the future. For all the praise and hype Ruby got, she too was a girl who struggled with people's expectations despite her own troubled history. While she stood on an unwanted pedestal and he lined the bottom of an unwanted barrel, they were closer than anyone would ever realize. A fact that, despite their time together, only now did he realize.

This was also fact that had also just dawned on Ruby. In reality she had never truly intended to talk about her past and her mother, but she had simply blurted it out. She had only realized what she was doing in the middle of the story, as if she always wanted to tell him no matter what. She was never truly expecting to open up to people, only to Yang, and not even to her other teammates. Speaking with Jaune it felt… almost natural. Easy. Almost like talking to herself or to her sister.

And it felt good. Refreshing. Somewhat liberating. Almost cathartic. As a girl who tended to confide only in a single person, it almost felt like a huge weight disappearing from her shoulders. Like a dense fog clearing from her sight. She no longer felt nervous or awkward. She revealed it, honestly, without doubt or hesitation. The yellow lights of the tunnel were brighter. The hum of the generator sounded clearer. All her senses were as sharp as they could be, for the first time since she left Signal. For the first time in years.

And for the two of them, it all happened when they decided to talk. With nothing but truth and honesty. With nothing to hide.

"I feel… honored. Ruby… thanks… I know that maybe it was hard for you but… the fact that you told me something you have only ever told Yang… it… it just…"

Jaune felt a very warm tear trickle down his cheek.

"Like I said Jaune, sometimes… it's just better to be blunt and honest. We owe each other that much I think. That and… well… I just get this feeling that I was always meant to tell you all about myself."

Jaune felt another loud beat in his heart. This time rather than being worrisome it felt… refreshing. Not just Jaune but Ruby as well. She could feel her heart beat all the way to her face.

"Jaune… you're my friend. My best friend. The closest I've ever had. Heck who knows maybe even-"

Ruby instantaneously shut her mouth with her hands. She knew she was about to blurt out something she didn't think through enough. For all the feeling she had that she could reveal anything and everything to Jaune, this was something she HAD to deal with first, lest she regret it. It's not something you can easily take back. It was an idea, something she had toyed with before but never really explored the possibility of. It was probably the heat of the moment that nearly let her blurt it out without thinking about it.

Jaune, as dense as he was didn't particularly pick up on the deeper implications of Ruby's last two declarations. But for him it was now or never, even if it wasn't the best place or time to do it. It too was an idea he toyed around with but never really got into thinking of. This was perhaps THE time to do it, while he still had some courage running through his veins.

"Ruby?"

"Hm?"

"There's this nice little bakeshop in the suburbs outside Vale. Great bread and cookies. When we get out of here and have some time… maybe you'd like to-"

Ruby immediately stood up, faced the wall, placed her hands to her waist and cocked her hips to one side.

"Why Jaune Arc! Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Er… umm… you didn't have to sound sarcastically formal about it…"

"I wasn't being sarcastic. Probably. Maybe. Heheheh."

What started as a soft laugh became a boisterous guffaw. Even Jaune joined in with Ruby, almost not particularly caring what her reply would be. It was worth a shot, he thought to himself. Things would still be great between them no matter what she said, he was sure of it. It took nearly five minutes for both of them to calm down, and when they did, there was a good minute of silence before Ruby decided to speak up.

"I would be honored, Mr. Arc. They better have damn great cookies!"


	6. And There Was Evening On The Sixth Day

"Hey Ruby?"

Ruby slowly opened her eyes at the beckon of her friend. She had found herself sleeping longer hours, or what seemed like longer hours, for the past 2 days. Having not eaten for 2 days would surely take its toll on even the hardiest of hunters, and in situations like these they were trained that sleeping longer hours as necessary helped conserve as much energy as needed. They had undergone food and sleep deprivation training even in their first year in Beacon, so both Ruvy and Jaune were already used to this. Yet, even with the amount of sleep deemed appropriate in situations like this, she had found it difficult to rouse herself.

"~Yawn~ … yeah Jaune?"

"You… uh… ever wondered what things would be like if maybe, you know, Weiss wasn't you partner? And what would happen once you graduate?"

"Hmmm… well honestly during initiation I was actually looking for Yang. Bumping into Weiss was something of an accident. Wasn't looking where I was going and ran into her. But uh… don't tell her I said that. As for the future… that's…"

"Yeah. She'd probably call you a dunce or dolt or something. Like she always does."

"That's probably a guarantee. She kinda does it every few days or so. In all honesty… I kinda miss it…"

Weiss has a habit of calling her one of those 2 things every so often she does something she thinks is stupid, which on average is once in every other day. It was something Ruby had accepted as part of her daily routine, and not hearing it for longer than a few days already felt very off for her. Weiss never totally meant it to be derogatory, and in fact it was already a habit for her, yet for whatever she intended it to be Ruby found comfort in the fact that someone cared enough about her to call her names. Something she felt she could really use right now.

"Anyway Ruby I was just wondering if… you know… what would have happened if we became partners that day. We'd become part of a team too."

"Well like I said I only ever planned to be with Yang. What? Getting tired of being with Pyrrha now?"

Jaune could only smirk at the teasing tone ruby had with that remark. It was the farthest from the truth and they both knew it.

"Heh no. I would have never made it this far without her, without everyone's help. It's just that much of our lives at Beacon were shaped by who we ended up being grouped with. Me with the undefeated Pyrrha. You with the Schnee Ice Queen."

"Yeah uh you know Weiss doesn't really like that."

"You know I don't say stuff like that anymore. Just meant it as a joke."

"Okay well… yeah she may be something of an Ice Queen honestly, but like the way you think about Pyrrha I think about Weiss the same way. I wouldn't be here without her too."

"We're all grateful for our teams and all their support, but sometimes I still end up wondering how the future would have been different if we were the ones who crossed paths first that day."

"Now that you mention it… well… I'm going to go check on the generator and give it a little more thought."

Ruby stretched out her legs and tried to get up. She felt slightly weak in the knees and regretfully used Crescent Rose to prop herself up to a standing position. She headed for the generator to check on their power supplies. The lights in the tunnels were already further dimmed by Jaune earlier to save more power for the scrubber. Checking on the crate she recovered from the train, Ruby deduced that they had enough dust to power the lights and the scrubber for one more day. She gave out a soft sigh as she loaded up the remaining dust into the tank and hoped for the best. Heading back to the wall, she decided to keep quiet about it and not tell Jaune for now so as not to worry him.

At this time Jaune went to the dining room to check on his scroll, plugged into the wall socket where the ancient refrigerator was original plugged. Taking it out of sleep mode, he sighed softly at the fact that there was still no signal as the SOS still beeped its call. He had only started charging the scroll when they managed to start the generator. When they did he increased the power of the SOS signal, hoping that it would become strong enough to be detectable on the surface. This in turn however consumed more power for the scroll, power they had to conserve. Jaune unplugged the scroll and took it with him as he returned to the wall.

"What did you have in mind?"

"I sort of imagined people would think about it the way people thought about me and Pyrrha being partners. In this case it would be something like the prodigy and the poser."

"Jaune!"

Jaune smirked while Ruby was clearly irritated at his choice of words. As was mentioned before, Ruby held an intense dislike for the way Jaune habitually depreciated himself in front of others, more so now after all their talks about his abilities and how he had grown as a person and as a warrior.

"I know I know Ruby. I mean that was the way I used to think about it before, now not so much."

"Okay, as long as you know. Thing is… what made think about it in the first place?"

"To be honest… I sometimes got kind of jealous at all the adventures you and your gang get into."

"I'm sure you mean misadventures."

Both of them had a hearty laugh. Team RWBY's… exploits were pretty well known to the staff and the student body. The first big event that got them noticed by the students was the big fight near the Vale Docks that involved 2 members of Team Rwby, Torchwick, the White Fang, at least 3 downed aircraft and allegedly an Atlas secret weapon. The next involved a high speed freeway chase, countless wrecked cars and the carcass of an Atlas mech prototype. Everything from there just added to their growing fame. Or infamy, depending on who you ask.

"Whatever you want to call it. I just wondered how life might have been different if I was your partner, and we were in the same team. Given just how good you guys are I'd have obviously stood out like a sore thumb until I caught up with you guys. All the while getting caught in whatever plans you cooked up."

"ME?"

"C'mon Ruby. It's not every day you get to chase down a super high end Atlas mech against incoming traffic. Then blast it to pieces before it even went into production."

"That's… kinda on Yang. She was the one who exploded the darn thing with one punch."

Ruby began to remember the events of that night, Yang in particular. Ruby admitted to herself that she wasn't used to not hearing Yang's voice on a consistent basis. Even when they were apart Yang always made it a point to call her frequently, with most of the contents being nags on whether Ruby was eating right, brushing her teeth or whatever else she could think of. While Ruby appreciated Yang's motherly concern, she sometimes grew irritated of the constant nagging. Nagging she hasn't heard in days, nagging she too was missing, much like she was missing Weiss.

"When I started thinking about all these what ifs I ended up thinking about the future which, if you know about my sometimes one-track mind, is something I usually try not to think about."

Jaune put his palms to his face. He could feel the caking dust on his skin even thicker than before. He really, really, really wanted a bath when he got out of here.

"So I wanted to ask you… what are your plans when you graduate?"

Ruby sat down, clutching her right side, and straddled Crescent Rose between her legs. She put her index finger on her chin mimicking a thinking man's pose.

"Hmm… well since I did join Beacon to be a huntress my first idea was to go back to my hometown. With Yang of course, and do a few easy jobs before we strike out on our own."

"Planning to stay around Signal?"

"Not really I think. The place is really safe to be honest, but it's a good training ground for new hunters with the sparse Grimm population. I'm planning to eventually go on to the frontier lands beyond Vale."

Ruby closed her eyes and imagined herself a few years from now, fighting in the front lines against hordes of Grimm. These images in her head used to be clear and sometimes dominating in her imagination. Now, as she tried to picture them, they weren't as clear as they used to be. She also begins to have almost random images of living in a house surrounded by her children, or perhaps teaching future hunters in a combat school. She even had an image of herself inside a bakery, the sweet smell of freshly baked cookies emanating in the air as she baked.

"But who knows really. Funny thing I realized about the future recently, being stuck in here with you. You never know what will happen until it finally does. Like right now. Maybe I won't be a huntress. Maybe I'll be something else. Like I said, who knows?"

Ruby opened her eyes to the dimly lit tunnel. She remembers getting depressed a bit whenever she woke up to a new day (or at least she thought it was) in their predicament. Now, opening her eyes… she felt more content what's happening. Not in the sense that she's resigned to the idea of being stuck down here, but that she had decided to try and stop worrying and just hope for the best. How long she could keep that courage up, she doesn't know. Right now all she could feel was that pain on her right side, and how she begun to feel more exhausted as the days down here went by.

"How about you Jaune?"

Jaune took a deep breath and looked down.

"I… wanted to join the army like my family did for generations. Like I said, I got into Beacon to train in combat for my family's honor as the only male heir of the Arc legacy. Thinking about it now…"

Jaune looked up and stared at the flickering lights. He remembered how depressed he got every time he thought about his situation in Beacon, how he wanted to prove himself and how he wouldn't be able to do it trapped down here. How he looked at the scroll every chance he got hoping that a signal would come so he could call for help, but it never did. Now, with all those words exchanged between him and Ruby, he felt more confident and more self-assured. He believed deep down rescue was on the way, it was only a matter of time. When it did, he could finally show everyone he was a better man.

"I'll be a hunter, just like you. When or where, who knows. Maybe we'll even work side by side. I've decided not to worry about it anymore. Just like I decided to stop worrying about my past and my failures. I want to live with them and learn from them… just like you."

Jaune stood up, dusted his hands as clean as he could make them, and reached his arm through the hole to reach Ruby with an open hand.

"Thanks Ruby. For everything."

Ruby shakily tried to stand up, again propping herself up with Crescent Rose. Dusting her hands as clean as she was able, she reached into the hole and warmly shook Jaune's hand.

"Who knows Jaune? Maybe we really might become hunter partners or something. I heard Yang say she was thinking of taking a teaching job at Signal. If she does I'll need a partner. From what I gather Weiss plans to go back and turn her family's company around. Blake… with Blake I'm not so sure. She doesn't like to talk about it."

After a firm handshake they both let go. Jaune couldn't help but think that Ruby's arm looked very pale.

"But we'll talk about that some other day. Assuming the cookies in that bakery you promised to take me to are actually any good!"

Ruby put out a burst of laughter that suddenly turned into a faint groan. Feeling the pain she had on her right shoot up towards her arm, she knelt down clutching it with her left arm. It had grown much more intense and deeper than the past few days. She could now tell it was something inside her abdomen that was source. She had been using her Aura to suppress the pain, planning to deal with it when they got out. One of her bad habits again of not telling people what was wrong and what she felt. She didn't want Jaune to know and to worry, as he really was the worrying type.

But now he knew. He saw. As Ruby knelt down and clutched her side he saw her skin in a bluish crimson hue, and with it a cold sweat dripped down his forehead. He knew what it was. It was there on the monitor during their field medicine classes. It was a sight every hunter dreaded to see because they knew it demanded an emergency extraction to the nearest hospital. A facility that was no way accessible to either of them down here. They were trapped under the rubble with help still desperately looking for them. He surmised that this likely happened during the explosion. He remembered that in cases like this, especially if there's injury to the liver or spleen, a person can die in days if not hours. If this did happen to her due to the explosion… then the only reason she was alive was because of her Aura.

Even the best hunter's aura was not infinite. Aura could be used to temporarily postpone the progression of injury, but never truly cure it. All Ruby was doing, at this point, was postpone what would be the inevitable if she failed to get treatment as soon as possible. It's been days since then, and with no food or water to sustain her Aura, it was perhaps only a matter of time before she runs out of Aura. And when she runs out…

"Ruby… you're… bleeding. That's internal bleeding…"

No use hiding it any longer. She could feel it herself. She's been rationing her Aura to last as long she could, and by doing so the pain and the difficulty progressively increased as the days went by. So much so that she could no longer hide the truth from Jaune. The truth she refused to admit until now. He had now realized in near horror why Ruby had looked so pale.

"It's fine Jaune. I've still got… a lot of Aura. It'll keep it in check until they find us."

"Ruby it's been days! No hunter could possibly survive like this, even you! I don't care how much Aura you've got, you might just run out before they get here!"

"I'm fine Jaune! I'm fine!"

"Ruby!"

"It's ok. I'll be ok. Stop… stop worrying. I've got enough to last. I'm absolutely sure they'll be here… by then."

She was lying. He could tell. By the sound of her voice. The nervousness in her words. Ruby was always a bad liar. He knew. Two days. Two days at the most. Just two days. They had two days.

"I'll be fine Jaune. It's fine. I promise."


	7. On the Seventh Day She Rested

"Hey… Ruby?"

"Jaune…?"|

Ruby mustered a rather weak reply. It was only barely audible in the background of the now sputtering generator and the slow creaking of the scrubber. For the last few hours the generator had been making loud throbbing sounds, and with it the scrubber had started to sound like the fans had been rotating slower, and with it the loud creaks of its partly rusted-over blades. They were still working, of course, but they sounded like they wouldn't be working for long. They were two things that were simply inevitable at this point.

"I'm sorry… for all this."

"Jaune… no one knew this was going to happen… it's not… you're fault…"

It was just a few days after the Grimm breakout in Vale in the train crash. Team RWBY and Jaune were called into the headmasters office and were briefed on the aftermath. Scouts sent in to investigate the tunnel sections involved in the train incident disappeared right after sending their reports of human and faunus activity. Ozpin had asked RWBY and Jaune's opinion on the matter as the first people on site.

"Ruby… I was the one who insisted we all go…"

Ozpin had a dilemma of who to send down, in tunnels infested with both White Fang and Grimm activity. Team RWBY volunteered on the spot, to which Ozpin had his reservations and was inclined to deny their offer. Before he could, however, Jaune had seconded the motion and volunteered JNPR to go with them. Jaune had pressed the issue until Ozpin accepted their offer. It was a dangerous mission to send them down to barely mapped and altogether almost forgotten sectors of the old city, but he had no choice.

"I was the one who said we should stop them now before they get away…"

When they did reach the place where the scouts had disappeared, events played quite similarly to RWBY's encounter with Torchwick's train. This time, however, there were eight of them against a much better defended train. A train that was heading to an area almost directly under Beacon, carrying with enough supplies to attack Beacon from the old emergency escape tunnels below the school. One cannot count how many lives would be lost if it were to happen.

"I… was the one who rerouted the train we were on…"

Having beaten down the defenders of the train but with no way to actually stop it from heading towards the Beacon foundation, they discovered that the front half of cars carried the weapons while the back half carried the ammunition. Decoupling the cars and splitting them up would make either half completely useless, no matter where they ended up. Jaune and Ruby, already in the front while the rest battled towards the back, decided that this was the best course of action. Jaune headed for the engine car and decoupled the cars as they headed towards a split in the track.

"… and trapped us here…"

Call it pure bad luck or what not. On Jaune and Ruby's side they were heading towards an unfinished stretch of track lined with explosives for digging tunnels. With barely seconds to spare he managed to bring his shield up for both of them as a flash of light and intense heat engulfed them both. What happened next is where they are now, after almost 7 days.

"Jaune… you did the right thing. We did… the right thing. If we didn't, Beacon would probably be infested with White Fang and Grimm by now. What we did… saved everyone there… for what it's worth…"

"… Yeah… it was worth both our lives at the very least…"

"Jaune… we talked about this… we're… we're getting out of here… you said it so yourself…"

"I know…"

Jaune had had coughed and felt a scratching in his throat. He felt the dryness of his throat and lips, having gone without water for almost 3 days already. He could feel the itch going all the way down to his empty stomach, which hasn't had anything inside for almost just as long. He didn't want to complain though, because he knew that Ruby was in a much worse state than he was, and she was still chipper about it. It was her state of mind that really made him afraid for her.

"You said so yourself. I'm sure that… Yang and Nora are probably blasting down the rubble with… all the ammo in the Beacon armory… as we speak."

Ruby too had coughed. A much drier, more painfully scratching cough than Jaune's. She could feel the pain not just in throat and stomach but also her entire body, which only aggravated the pain to her right side. The blue discoloration had stopped, but now barely able to move the right side of her body, she too had to admit that this was the time where it was going to get worse. She still decided not to think about it because she herself knew that there was nothing more she could do about. Her aura was the only thing keeping it at bay, aura that was already nearly empty.

"Yang… she's probably going to rush in here crying everywhere… she'll… probably have a bag of cookies she'll want to jam into my mouth… Nora's probably going to do the same to you… heh…"

Ruby tried to stand but immediately fell back to a sitting position as her legs buckled on the weight of her body. She knew she wasn't going to be standing any time soon.

"And your partner, Weiss. I can hear it now. She'll probably scream all the regular insults she always throws at you, but… deep down inside she's probably crying her heart out to see you safe. Pyrrha… yeah she'd probably berate me too. Not as much as Weiss would, but she'll probably drag me out for survival practice the moment I get out of the hospital."

Jaune propped himself off his cot and also felt the weakness of his knees, and thus decided to sit back on his cot. Without the same aura control that Ruby had, he felt the pangs of thirst and hunger inside. Again he kept quiet about, knowing that Ruby was going through much worse than he was.

"Blake… Blake would probably just smile… like she always does. Maybe… maybe she'll quote something appropriate from a book she read. You know… she doesn't show it with that poker face she always has on… but she's one of the most caring people… I've ever met…"

"Same with Ren… the guy barely talks, and when he does mostly reacting to Norra, but… he always has something supportive to say no matter what. Deep down he cares more than most of us realize."

Speaking their minds, both of them looked up to the ceiling.

"You know Jaune… looking back at things… where we are now… I never really took the time to… tell them what I really feel… and how thankful I am for everything… they've done for me. I know… it must suck having to babysit the youngest… and most inexperienced member of the group… especially when she's… appointed leader."

"Same for me I guess. I never really thanked everyone for how they've been practically carrying me when all this started… waiting for me to catch up to them and prove that I deserve being called their leader. They need to know that I know I can lead. That they can depend on me."

Jaune took a deep breath of dusty and musty air. He could feel the air getting dirtier. The pitch of the scrubber's creaking blades had gone lower, signaling that it had slowed down some more.

"Looks like we both have something to look forward to when they come get us huh. Lots to talk about with our teammates. I think we owe them that much."

"Well that's not the only thing I'm looking forward to you know…"

Ruby closed her eyes and smiled. She was really just too exhausted to open them. She wanted to sleep. She was too sleepy to even want to eat or drink. Just sleep. A long, peaceful sleep. A sleep to regain her strength. To sleep as long as she wanted.

"Jaune… what's that… bakery you plan to take me to like?"

"The bakery? Well… it's run by this nice old couple who've been there for like 40 years already. I heard the place is quite famous in the area."

A small wood and stone cottage on a verdant hill. Jaune tried to describe it as best he can, knowing and feeling that Ruby really wanted to imagine what it was like. A small wood and stone cottage on a small verdant hill, with smoke rising from its chimney smelling of freshly baked bread and other fine eats that would make any person's mouth water. To get there you'd have to take an unpaved dirt road, just off the main road in the suburbs outside Vale, almost beside the towering walls that protected the region from the world outside. It was literally as far from the city as you could get. The base of the hill going to the bakery was lined by some of the greenest trees in all of Vale, far from the polluted hustle and bustle of the city proper. It was a quiet place wrapped in solitude, almost a world unto itself, like stepping into a peaceful time before Grimm made such a life almost impossible. It was a glimpse of a simple world at peace with itself, almost as if it was immune from the recent events threatening everything else.

Stepping inside you'd be greeted by a few tables covered with simple cloth and chairs made out of hand-carved wood, looking almost as new as the day they were first made. You'd sit yourself and whoever you were with on one of those chairs as a kindly old lady serves you sweetbread straight out of the oven, or any other bread for that you'd like. Jaune said it reminded him of the bread his own mother makes, and reminds him of his childhood. The cookies themselves were simple chocolate chip cookies baked with fresh blueberries or other small fruits that were in season. Their simple homey flavor was a testament to the basics of food, without the trappings of complex flavors or rare and expensive ingredients. If simplicity had a flavor, this would have been it. It was a wonder to him how this place wasn't more famous than it already was.

"When you've had your fill of cookies there, and I'm sure you'd like to take some of it back to Beacon… I'd like to maybe take you to the lighthouse by the northern shore. I heard it's a great place with a great view."

"Lighthouse? What's… it like?"

"I've never been there but Pyrrha told me all about the place."

A tall stone lighthouse that was built with the founding of Vale many years ago. It was on a small peninsula, on a cliff, overlooking the beach that was famous during the summer. Few people visited it these days since it was no longer really in use, yet it offered unparalleled views of the sea and the nearby land that you couldn't see anywhere else. It stood as a lone tower in a more desolate area of Vale. Getting to it required a bit of hiking up the cliff side by the road leading up the beach. It was a small roadside stop, with only a waiting shed, that signaled the start of the approach. The path itself was an old forest trailed already covered in trees and other foliage due to years of disuse. When you get to the top you'd be greeted by a small clearing that lead to the lighthouse itself. A large, almost imposing structure made of locally sourced granite and concrete, built to withstand the gales that used to hit the area in years past.

You'd enter and see a spiral staircase going all the way to the top. The stairs were creaky with broken floor boards. Once you got the top you were treated to a sight Pyrrha had said was unparalleled in all of Vale. A clear view that stretched for miles and miles on end. At night one could see the shining stars unobstructed by the blinding lights of the city. On a clear day you could both the walls of Vale stretching around the city, like a mother hugging her child to keep it safe. You could even see the rocky crags of the island of Patch if you looked far enough. On a windy day, if you held on tight to the railings and didn't fall off, you could see the gentle waves of the trees swaying with every gust. Like that old bakery on a hill, it made you feel like you were in a time before things like the White Fang or the Grimm even existed. Like what the world would be like, if the world itself and its inhabitants were at peace.

It was a peace that Ruby, with the excited way that Jaune had been talking, had started to feel. An inner peace, feeling as she herself was there with Jaune to experience all of it. Inside she felt a sense of happiness she had not felt for some time. In the back of her mind she knew however that she was here, down in this tunnel, and not out there enjoying blueberry cookies on top of a lighthouse enjoying the view. It was a sense profound happiness mixed with nigh unbearable sadness.

Unable to open her eyes, she smiled. And with that smile, a tear rolled down her cheek.

"… Ruby?"

A few more tears rolled down her cheek.

"Are you…?"

A quiet, almost inaudible sob.

"Hey…"

The sobbing became a little louder. Almost as if crying in itself was difficult. And it was. He could barely hear it, but he knew it was Ruby. He could hear her breathing between sobs. It was getting softer. Like a whisper.

"Thank you… Jaune… and… sorry…"

"Wait… sorry for…?"

"Thank you for… telling me. And… I'm sorry but… it… you… maybe you…"

"Ruby?"

"It's just that… somewhere deep inside… it feels like… you won't be able to… take me there…"

"I… I will! I promised you!"

"But the way you told me… about that bakery… and that lighthouse… I feel like I was… already there. It's… good enough for me…"

She took as much strength as she could to wipe away her tears and stop herself from crying. When she did, she felt her right arm just fall to the ground like a rag doll. It felt as heavy as her own Crescent Rose, only now she couldn't lift either of them. She couldn't even open her eyes.

"Ruby!"

"I'd really… want nothing more right now… than to go there with you. Eating those… blueberry cookies. Heh… never had those before but… they sound great… and that lighthouse… to see Patch from there…"

"I will. I will!"

"Maybe… maybe I could see my mom's grave… from there…"

"Ruby!"

"Thank you… Jaune… and…"

"Ruby!"

Jaune mustered up all the strength left in him and banged on the wall with all his might.

"Ruby!"

The fevered sound of flesh hitting steel was met only by silence.

"Ruby!"

Only silence. The sound of the scrubber and generator had already ceased. The lights had begun to fade around Jaune, who was still banging his fists on the wall.

"Ruby!"

Just silence.

"RUBY!"

Silence. A silence that was only broken by the extremely faint sound of a drill in the distance.


	8. Q&A and Sequel Announcement

So before I begin with the rest of the details, I'd like to say that I was rather (or very very very) surprised by the amount of reads and responses I've head for this story. I had the idea for this story one day while driving from work after reading about the plan of RT to continue on with RWBY even after the passing of Monty Oum, and how a preview might even appear bu August or October. One of the things I wanted them to explore more was on Jaune, specifically about him as a person and how is theoretical family life affects his relationship with people. I've always thought that Jaune and Ruby make for a very dynamic pair, and to show how good they could work as a team and not simply on a more romantic level, I wanted to explore what things would be like if these two just had time to talk.

With that this story was more or less born. Took about 2 weeks for me to flesh it out but eventually it came to be. Now to answer some questions people sent to my email for some reason.

1\. "Where's the action?"

Ok... I have never, ever been good writing action scenes and events. My writing style doesn't lend well for fast paced and dynamic scene progression. Maybe one day I'll give it a shot, but a long time ago I already knew that the way I write is better suited for other things.

2\. "So... why the trapped in a tunnel setting?"

I won't deny that, yes, I was partially influenced by the eventual train wreck that was Angel Beats (that's not a discussion for this place). I wanted to put them into a setting that would "force" them into talking because, simply put, it was the only thing for them to do where they are. No distractions or side events, just 2 people stuck in a situation where talking is the only thing keeping them both sane and alive.

3\. "You seem to like to explore the concepts of retrospection, introspection and how they shape us? Why is that?"

Sometimes in this fast paced life we really don't have time to sit back and really try to reflect and think about the past experiences and events that have helped shaped us in ways we never realize of fully comprehend. Most, if not all, of the stuff I write have included themes and segments involving characters who have finally found time to just think, and talk, about the things that have just happened or things in the past they've only recently started to think off again, and how they try to connect their pasts with their present. It's something I've always tried to explore, and it will certainly come out in anything else I write.

4\. "Lots of character dynamics, not much plot? I assume this is intentional?"

Yes, yes it is. I'm not a fan of where characters feel like mere participants in some big story beyond their control. I like it when the characters ARE the story, and not merely its actors. So yes, that's why for me character interactions will always be the story.

And now for the semi-sequel details: **Fast Cars**

So this was influenced by the Tracy Chapman song, much like how Hey Jaune is a modification on Hey June by the Beatles. Unlike this story, the sequel will be taking some actual inspiration from that song.

This story is set in and around the final chapter of Hey Jaune, in which one of the characters is forced to take a "vacation" of sorts after the events of Hey Jaune and the season 2 finale. Due to the chaos of the Grimm making its first appearance in Vale since the wall (presumably) went up, Ozpin decides to let this character "lie low" for a while and lets them have a car to drive out into the countryside and the surrounding smaller cities for a few days. This character decides that, with everything that's been going on in Vale, to go around and visit the places and memories of their past. It's with this that this character will have to make a big decision by the end of the story.

This will of course entail that I make a whole fictional backstory for this character, which may more or less clash with whatever RT may decide to do with the character, but given how this character is in the story this is how I imagine their past to be like before entering Beacon. So yes, a road trip story full of memories.

 **Fast Cars,** starring everyone's favorite Faunus, **Blake Belladona.**

And now for the final chapter of Hey Jaune, 2 days after the posting of this interim message.


	9. Light At The End Of The Tunnel

For people living in the countryside, the warm morning sun beaming over the face is the first sign that it's time to start the day. Compared to the average city slicker, who relies on his alarm clock because the sun gets blocked by either thick drapes or tall buildings, most people outside the walls of Remnant's imposing urban centers don't really think twice when the first ray of sun hits. They sit up, yawn, stretch their arms and prepare for the days labors. They do it again the next day, and the next day, a constant routine only marred by the occasional festivity or the occasional Grimm raid.

Having lived on the Arc family estate most of his life, located in the rolling plains a day's drive from the nearest major city, he never really thought twice of how sunlight signaled the start of another day in the relatively uneventful life of Jaune Arc. He too would sit up, yawn, get bathed and dressed, have breakfast, and then proceed to whatever activity his family had in store for him. He too preferred not to use any alarms to wake him up, as he was used to getting up as early as the first light of dawn. Like everyone else, it was just another day to either enjoy or trudge through.

Today would different.

Maybe it was the melodic chirping of the birds. Maybe it was the gentle banter of familiar voices in the background. Perhaps the repetitive beeping of what sounds like a heart monitor. It could also be the overpowering smell of surgical disinfectant that permeated through his nostrils. Whatever it was, it contributed to the gentle feeling of warmth on his face and in his heart like, finally, everything was going to be okay. Like all of his suffering was over. Like he was dead and he was in heaven.

And then he remembered his own screams trying to keep his best friend awake. The vivid memory of breathing slowly and quietly ceasing. A voice full of regret trailing off into silence. No, he refuses to accept heaven when he had just been forced to witness an atrocity beyond belief.

He slowly opened his eyes.

"… Jaune."

Looking to his left as he reacted to the voice, he saw tears forming in the tired-looking eyes of a familiar redhead haphazardly dressed in wrinkled pajamas. Behind her was a young lady of snow white hair also dressed in pajamas, slumped over a table by the window, sleeping soundly. He could hear familiar voices to his right, likely behind a door or wall he couldn't see. The voice of a stern but obviously caring old man and the loud and boisterous voice of a young lady.

"Jaune!"

The redhead immediately hugged him on the bed. Her excitedly ecstatic scream echoed in the room and the halls outside. The white haired girl sprung up from her chair in an instant and clamored over to his bed. A man with a cane and a girl with yellow hair quickly rushed into the room, with the girl nearly toppling over the man in the process. They all hovered over him like vultures; though he believed he was far from being a carcass. He regained his bearings and finally realized what was happening around him.

"I'm… alive… right? Probably?"

"You… you doofus!"

Pyrrha obviously said those words in jest, laughing and crying at the same time as she finally let go of him. She wiped away the tears as Weiss looked over him with a look of relative indifference. A look that he knew was just a façade, considering just how much of a worrywart she tended to be, in his best friend's own words. Ozpin and Yang looked over him as well with smiles on their faces, eagerly anticipating an update. Doctors and nurses followed suit behind the two, in order to check on him. Within minutes they told Ozpin that his vital signs were stable, but having just regained consciousness, it would be best to give him as much bed rest.

"You had us worried there Mr. Arc. Surviving 7 days down in tunnels older than anyone alive is quite a feat, though no one in Beacon was surprised that you did. No one gave up hope the entire time we searched for you."

"… Seven days? What happened… that took you that long?"

Taking a seat as everyone else began to calm down, the headmaster recounted the huge rescue effort initiated by the student body. Apparently the back half of the decoupled train went down a track that looped back to a loading station close to where the train originated. The members of RWBY and JNPR managed to subdue the remaining White Fang and were in the process of reporting in when they felt the ground shake as an explosion echoed through the tunnels.

"Your teammates encountered piles of rubble down the tunnels. No one knew exactly where you were since you got separated. We were still in the process of digging for the maps in the old records building when they reported the explosion."

Within an hour a fourth of the student body was en route with Beacon rescue crews and as much heavy machinery as they could get their hands on. They knew exactly what was happening and what was at stake. Ozpin immediately organized the rescue, with almost a hundred students working in tandem with the rescue teams digging through the collapsed tunnels 24/7.

"Heh. You should have seen how serious everyone was during the entire operation."

Pyrrha recounted how, minutes into the start of the rescue operation, Weiss was screaming on the phone calling just about everyone in the Schnee Company demanding they send as much men and material as they could. How Blake was, every night, standing in front of each newly hit wall of rubble and using her increased hearing sensitivity trying to map the tunnels in her mind to help guide the rescue. How, whenever the machines broke down, Yang would just load up her gauntlets and just punch down the debris with pure abandon.

"It's just as well. Two days into the rescue a giant Schnee company drill came in which really sped up the process. Yang herself did as much work as two regular drills. Without Blake's attempt to track down the tunnel, we probably would never have picked up your SOS signal."

Jaune looked up at Weiss, who had a slight scowl on her face. Unlike the usual Weiss, her make-up was a mess and her eye bags were almost at her cheeks. For what it's worth, this was a girl who clearly was up and worried for days. Pyrrha left the room to speak with her team mates who has just arrived as Ozpin finished speaking to the attending physician.

"We were we found you when we did. If not for your training and your aura, well, both of you'd never have survived beyond 4 days at most. You were already massively dehydrated as it is, a few more hours and we'd have carried you both out in body bags..."

Both. Ozpin used that word. Twice. It run in his ears as he still tried to make sense of their rescue. The last thing he remembered was screaming his lungs out, almost in vain, begging and pleading that his best friend stay awake. Begging and pleading for her to keep the hope in her heart alive. The hope that rescue would come, for both of them. That they'd both see the rising sun again. That they'd both be eating freshly baked cookies atop Vale's tallest lighthouse.

And then it hit him.

"Both... Both! Is she-"

"Yes... Yes she is but..."

A now sullen looking Weiss got up from her chair. She walked up the the right side of Jean's bed, to where Jean heard the heart monitor. Weiss pulled back the blinds as Jaune stared at the sight before him. All he could really see from his side was a body wrapped in more gauze and bandages than he had ever seen before.

"I called in as many favors as I could. She was... She was pretty banged up when we found her. The doctors tried but... Vale's best trauma surgeon was on vacation. I managed to get him flown back here on my father's jet just in time."

Jaune sat up on his bed and looked at the young girl lying on the bed beside him. She was wearing a face mask attached to an oxygen tank with countless stitches and bandages on her head. A gastric tube was protruding from her nose . On her right arm were 3 intravenous lines with a blood transfusion running. Her left arm was in a cast and sling suspended by weights on her side. Through her hospital gown were countless wires snaking above her, attached to her heart monitor. On her right abdomen were layers of gauze dressing soaked in yellowish red secretions, which were in need of changing, with metallic surgical clips protruding from the side. She was unconscious and, to Jaune, looked absolutely terrible.

But she was alive. The doctor detailed the laundry list of findings they had when she came in.

"Surgery took 12 hours. The scans showed she had a hemorrhagic contusion in her brain. She had fractures in her skull and left femur. Inside the operating room the surgeon found that she had a lacerated liver and right kidney with lots of internal bleeding. He had to remove half of her right kidney because they were too damaged to work any more."

"Like Ozpin said... The average person would have been dead with these injuries. But, of course, she's not your average person..."

Weiss leaned herself back onto Jaune's bed, holding her head.

"Ms. Weiss! You have been up for 3 days already! Push yourself more and you'll be the one next on a bed inside this room. Just let her body do the rest... "

"I know I know doctor. It's just a matter of time. Jaune... Watch over her okay?"

The exhausted Weiss stumbled out of the room, assisted by Pyrrha. Ozpin opened the door and instructed Pyrrha to take her back to her room. Jaune could see Yang and Blake standing outside, taling to each other.

"Now, Mr. Arc, I should myself bid you farewell and let the two of you speak. There's still the fallout of this entire incident the school as to deal with, though that is nothing you should worry about at this point. Just get some rest, both of you. We'll be back later."

"I understand. Thank you... Headmaster."

As he left the room, Ozpin gestured towards Yang and Blake who nodded their heads. Yang stole a peek in the room before she and Blake followed Ozpin.

"She's fine... That's all that matters..."

With everyone gone, the room fell silent save for the occasional beep of the monitors. Jaune sat up on his bed and, after making sure he could hear no one outside, stood from his bed. He felt his legs give way and fell to his knees beside his bed. Mustering up all his strength, he pulled himself up and wobbily approached the window. He pulled back the drapes as more sun engulfed the room.

Sunlight. He admitted to himself that a part of him never thought he'd see this again. The clock showed that it was 10am in the morning, and with the sun not yet that high over the horizon he surmised that their room faced east. He could see countless cars in the road below, their honking likely blocked by soundproof glass. He basked in the sunlight before going back to his bed. On his bedside table was a plate of blueberry cookies. He could tell from the smell it came from that bakery. He'd have to thank Nora and Ren for it since they're the ones who introduced him to that bakery and most definitely brought the cookies. He leaned back and looked at his friend, tubes and bandages and all, soundly sleeping on her bed.

Jaune took the plate and placed it on her bedside table. He took a chair and sat beside her, thinking of just how bad she looked and... If she'd ever wake up.

"Well... It looks like you're going to be here a while huh. You'll... Probably be shocked when you see all these tubes and wires coming out of you."

Jaune laughed under his breath.

"I'm guessing you've never been hospitalized before. This will all definitely be new to you when you wake up. Knowing you... Hearing everything about you for those seven days... I know it's going to be all right. Everything will be all right."

Jaune took a knee and knelt beside her bed.

"You'll be all right. You're a survivor. Most of all... A survivor with a smile. You've never... Never let all the crap the world throws at you get you down. I used to think you were blessed... That the world handed everything to you on a silver platter. But... After hearing everything you've been through... You're probably one of the most hard working people I've ever seen."

He sat back up and looked at the cookies at her bedside.

"I don't know when you'll get out of here. It's going to be a while, I can tell. I don't know... When I can take you there to that bakery and to that lighthouse but... For the time being... I guess this will have to do. Ren and Nora brought some cookies from that bakery and this room has a nice view of the city. It... It will have to do... Until you get better. But i promise you... When you finally get out of here... I'll take there... That very same day."

He placed his forehead on her hand.

"So get better quick... Okay?"

He placed it there for a few minutes in silence before deciding to get back on his bed. Getting up he felt a slight tug on his hand as he tried to pull away. He looked at the hand grasping his own, not wanting to let go. It was a weak yet powerful grasp. Neither of them wanted to let go. He looked at her face. He eyes were barely open, struggling through the mask and the tubes. She turned here eyes towards him.

"Hey... Ruby"

"Hey... Jaune."


End file.
